This and that

I dont' want to forget about these in the midst of our busy life:

*Ella's most recent art:

*Apple Festival at Bluebonnet:



*Wonderful Hrishi who repaired, pressure washed, and painted with the help of a good friend, our backyard deck. Love that smile!!!!

*Lounging by the pool:

*Culture Parade at Primrose:

*I'm in Omaha until Friday and as much as look forward to having a lot of time to myself after work, I so miss my sweethearts!!!

Love

I am the most blessed person in the world to have so much love pouring my way. I've only been gone one day and one night but that's still hard on my sweetie pie. You see, she is in love with me. She told daddy she loves me so much because I'm fuzzy and cute and I have soft skin :)

(I really don't know if I'm fuzzy, cute, and have soft skin but I'm for sure flattered that she perceives me this way! :-))

And I am in love with her too and I miss her so. I'm glad though that our short separation is turning her into a more responsible little person: this morning she woke up, brushed teeth, got dressed, and ate breakfast all by herself, no cajoling from daddy.

Oh, the amazing heart of this child... , of all children.

Triathlon

Swim: Done!

Bike: Done!

Run: Done!

I ran my race. I met and beat my goals. But most importantly, I had a BLAST!!!  I felt good, focused, energized, pumped up, and luckily all things ran smoothly for me before, during, and after the race :-). I am so happy to have taken this opportunity, so happy to have "tri"-ed, so tired but so grateful for all the love and support I got from my biggest fans: Hrishi and Ellie, my trainer John, my parents, and friends! Words can't describe the joy. I am just grateful and humbled to have had this first tri experience, to have swum, biked, and run side by side ordinary folks just like me, not born with innate athletic abilities, but self-taught and willing. It was inspiring, to say the least.

It was fun and exciting to have my sweethearts there with my by the poolside, one timing my laps on his iphone, the other watching mommy go swim crazy :-) Haha! The thing is that they let people walk too, and not swim the whole time if the needed a break. So I did a few "laps" like that. LOL! [To date, I can swim about 7 or 8 clean laps.] Anyway, this lady from our ward who was just leaving the pool area right before my wave start, came back and cheered for me in the middle of the lane and handed me a dry towel when I came out. She was awesome! The funniest thing is though I didn't realize who she was although she looked familiar until Ella pointed out that she is from church!! (Well, all the time I spent in Nursery would explain that!! :-))

Having Hrishi and Ella there the whole entire time through transitions and at the beginning of each leg was amazing! I couldn't have done it without them: thumbs-up and big smiles from across the gym, along with my gatorade were all I needed to keep going.

Aren't they the sweetest??? I love them so so so very much! Thank you guys!!!

Before the swim

I've learned a lot about myself through these past few weeks for training. We are indeed capable of doing a lot more than we think we are. He is undoubtely always there to support and comfort in the middle of it all: swim breaths, kicks, bruised toes, aching calves and feet, through the calm and peace, as well through the stressful (a.k.a "freaking out") times. 

And a very nice surprise is that they were fast and furious with publishing the results, so here it is:
*I ranked 12th overall out of 43 participants (masters, over 40 yrs category + open, 12-39 yrs)
*5th open overall (men and women)
*3rd women open!! Yay! (Hrishi of course is the one who did this complicated math for me! ;-))

I really surprised myself with the biking distance and I am now dreaming of riding a racing bike outdoors sometime in the near future!! (Christmas is coming up, honey! Hint, hint!! ):-)
What's next? Well, I'm looking forward to it whatever it'll be. Run, run/bike, or adventure mud race???! The possibilities are endless. Going to bed very happy! Thank you all for the kind encouraging words all along. If I can do it, anyone can do it and that's a fact!

A cherub for a "Cherub"!!!

Drum roll!!!

Yes, Ella made the Nutcracker cast!!! Hurray! We are so happy for her! I can hardly wait to see her reaction tonight when we tell her. In fact, I'm planning on showing her the cast announcement, make her read the title and then find her name on it! :) All this while Hrishi will be on stand-by with the camera! :)

I love my cherub so much!!!

Congratulations, darling! You are the best!!! :)

Wednesday workout

Nothing really new, still 6 lap of swimming, probably a little over 8 miles of biking, and only 1.89 miles of running. I thought I took a picture, in fact I KNOW I did but apparently my phone camera didn't fully cooperate because I can't find it in the photo gallery. Oh well!

Lesson learned today: it's time to rest as performance has decreased (at least as far as the running distance goes.) So tomorrow is rest day! I need it. Once in a while I take a day or two break (not back to back though) during my workout week (Mon-Sat) and I can definitely feel the difference when I get back into it. I come back fresher and stronger. I'll probably do a light swim on Friday though.

And today since it is such a beautiful sunny and warm day here in our neck of the woods, I'll take Ella to the pool after school. She's been wanting to go as she misses swimming. She had to skip her Monday lesson due to the adoption training. (And I think summer is coming back?!?!! That would be wonderful, I would not mind 100 degree temperatures one bit.)

Tuesday workout

Today was not as "glamorous" as yesterday in the swimming arena: 6 laps, not too bad though. The sun did shine pretty brightly in the treadmill department where I ran 1.98 miles. Only .02 miles away from my 2 miles goal. So tomorrow is THE DAY to make that happen. Also, I'll do all three legs. After tomorrow, one more three-leg workout and that's it! Showtime!! :)

Yesterday's:

Today's:

Over'n out!:)

(Oh, if anyone knows of a nice little (free) Android app to edit pictures, pls let me know! :))

Shake it off! (Mon workout)

Note: I decided to record my training days from hereon until the event. If it's boring, please skip it. It's mostly to record the journey and hopefully keep myself motivated prior to "the thing." And very likely, fun and funny to read post "the thing"! :)

So yesterday I got the blues, big time: got even more worried and jittery about this thing. Then I got a good talk from my husband, it helped but I was not there yet. Read, and read, and prayed and still not there. Remember, I was going to be able to leave a little early (with my working through lunch break) and get my workout in. Got to the gym, slurped down my GU 2 Gel (Gatorade pre-workout/prime gel, I was told this helps!), changed into my swim suit and went to work. Boy, I don't know if it was the gel or what it was but I swam 6 laps! Well, that did it! That cleared up all the clouds in my mind in heart! It was a wonderful moment for me!

You see, my initial goal for the event was 4. On Saturday I pushed a bit and swam 5 laps but with hick-ups (that is, mouthfuls of water and little stops here and there in the middle of the lane! LOL :)) so I was going to swim 5 "clean" ones. After this little success, got out of the pool, ran to the locker room, dried myself off, changed and went to the cycle studio which I had all to myself! Yay! Turned on Pandora and started SPINNING. Too bad I couldn't tell the distance covered...(for the event they'll attach computers to each bike to record it.) However, judging by the pace and cadence, I must have covered at least the same distance I did on Saturday, over 8 miles. Then ran upstairs, got on the treadmill and ran 1.90 miles. It was the first time I did all three legs together just like I will have to do the event. Gotta tell you there is something wonderful about finishing and still breathing (well, heavily breathing, but still! :-))

The parts I enjoyed the most about yesterday's workout:

_Doing that EXTRA lap (oh yeah!)

_Spinning in an empty dimmed light studio
_Cranking up the music in my headphones
_Going really fast!
_Feeling the sweat drip down my forehead and neck. Fun stuff! (Never thought I'd say that but here I am.)

So I shook those jitters off by going to work. If I could only remember this every time and DO IT! And not only for this tri training but for all the other "trainings" in my life.

Sprinting

We've been sprinting to finalize our adoption training sessions and this past Saturday we were in the STAR training which we'll finish up on Mon and Tue evenings. We didn't find a babysitter so Ella will come with. I really hope and pray the evening sessions won't truly last three hours (until 9:30 pm) as that's terribly late for her on a school night. Once this is done, we'll complete more paperwork, and then hopefully will get a caseworker assigned so we can start the Home Study process.

Today I was released from my nursery duties. It's a bit strange because today of all days I was asked to share my conversion story and how missionary work has blessed my life in Sharing time in Primary. I managed to do it w/o tears for Junior Sharing time but answering questions about my going to the temple for the first time some 18 years ago in Senior Sharing time did it and I was overwhelmed with emotion, and teared up. Especially when I mentioned seeing my parents' and my reflection in the sealing room's mirrors. I just love how powerfully the Spirit can touch our heart and our entire being in fact, and how it is such a spontaneous thing; of course I got embarrased with my outburst but I knew it was the Holy Ghost bearing testimony to me of the importance and beauty of those temple ordinances. I love the restored Gospel, the living faith we have, the wonderful teachings we are blessed to receive.  Then I got to go to Relief Society for the first time in almost a year and a half. WOW! Did that feel good, and peaceful, and wonderful???
But on my way to the Relief Society room, I peeked inside our Nursery room and saw the dear sisters I've served with singing with the children and I realized that I was going to miss them and especially those sweet kids! They are all so wonderful and never gave me any grief! Love them!  And I felt so grateful for being part of a church where there is so much love and dedication to others, even to the littlest and youngest ones of us.
Before I forget, the high council speaker today did such an amazing job. He gave a great talk about living prophets and about how doing the basic things each day will help us to reach our full potential. He asked us to be "brilliant in the basics" and not worry so much about what we know and don't know about the scriptures or doctrine, about how long we've served in a certain capacity, how long we've been members of the church, etc.

And here I am now, sitting and thinking how I'll be sprinting again tomorrow into the next week. I'm a little scared but hope everything will be fine. I hope and pray for health, safety, energy and desire to do everything that is required of me, of us and with a HAPPY and WILLING heart. Tomorrow (like most days) I know that work will be busy, there will be no lunch break but luckily will be able to leave a bit early so I can get my tri training done. I'm doing all three legs tomorrow and attempting 5 clean swim laps (clean meaning good breathing and no stopping in the middle of the lap), 8.75 miles of biking, and 1.80 miles of running. Now aside from the training itself, I realized that 10 min transition from the swim to the bike might be tight! This might be another challenge... . Somehow I have to be faster, not only in the pool or on the bike/treadmill, BUT ON MY OWN FEET! :):):) Oh boy, what did I get myself into??? Getting the jitters in case you can't tell!!

Last night, my very own stats and math guru husband sat down with me and came up with this cool little strategy for my running that will hopefully get me to my 2 mile/20 min goal. It's not going to be easy because of the preceeding swim and bike but I think it's possible. In fact I know it's going to be really tough but running is my forte out of the three legs so I got to push the hardest on this one. I just need to stay very focused and give it all.  So here it goes: first 30 secs run at 3.5 speed, go up to 5.5 for 1 min, then sprint at 7.5 for another min, then go back down to 3.5 for 30 secs. So on and so forth until the 20 mins are up. That's pretty much how I've been running my interval training but not as precise. Who knows, maybe I can go for more than 1 min at 7.5. You never know what the adrenaline can do!! :)

After my workout I'll be picking up Ella, meeting Hrishi home and driving together in one car to the adoption training. Hurray!! :) This is IT for Monday! And that's how Tue is going to be like, and Wednesday, and Thursday, etc., etc. Life is crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Some pictures to make this post prettier:

"10-30-20", HERE I COME! Can I do it? I think I can, I think I can!!! :)

(While you may see a pretty confident smile down below, know that I am afraid, that I am stressed, and that I feel overwhelmed. I didn't really sleep last night, dreaming myself swimming lap after lap after lap. I'm anxious. It is a big deal for me and probably one of the hardest physical challenges that I had to face (almost second to giving birth.) While I want to do my best and have a good experience, I can't help the feeling of inadequacy. He will uplift me and carry me through this as He carries me through everything every day, this I know.)

Birthday BOY!!!!

We only have one in our family and we love him dearly! Wednesday was Hrishi's birthday!! As our tradition goes (to take at least half day off from work on each other's birthdays to celebrate and hang-out together), we did and had lots of fun. Went shoe shopping (got Hrishi some Clark's-his first pair and he loves them), had a nice workout (did an almost three-leg swim(20mins)/bike(20min)/run(20min)), and got Swedish massages after our workout at LTF. In the evening we went out to dinner, Hard Eight BBQ our family allergy-free favorite. All in all itt was a great day!

We love you daddy and are so grateful for all the love you always give us!!!

You are sweet, calm, loving, and easy going.

You love to wrestle with Ella and never mind putting up with her requests to be her own personal 'mechanical' bull! :)

You always make time for us inspite of your love for golf. :)

You are supportive in so many ways of my newly found passion for fitness.

And you just turned 34 and always "bragg" that you're younger than me!! :) (I'm only one year older than him in case you folks out there are wondering! LOL :-))

And most recently, you jumped off a plane and loved it!!!

Love our crazy, fun, loving husband and daddy!!

Inspiration

I'm always on the lookout for words or things that motivate and inspire me. Regardless whether they're found in the Holy Scriptures, promptings from above, General Authority speeches, books, magazines, blogs (this is a big source of inspiration for me right now), or just wonderful friends' and family utterings, I try to take them all in.

One of the feeds I receive every day is from Livestrong.com. The one I got today is so good, worth posting it here. And because when this blog becomes a book may be hard to access the actual link (you'd need a computer and all do get to it), I'm copying and pasting it all here. Happy reading! (I bolded a couple of paragraphs, my favorites.) :)

The New Motivation Secret



Posted by abornstein
September 12, 2011

This editor’s letter will be—in many ways—the end of an era. I’m making a dramatic change that will inevitably impact every decision I make for the rest of my life: I’m getting married. But this letter is not about me or my wonderful fiancé. It’s about you, and discovering the real purpose of health and fitness.
Marriage is viewed as an eternal commitment to someone else. It's for some people and not for others. But as I prepare to take sacred vows, I'm thinking more about myself than I anticipated. Most people see marriage as the moment when life becomes less about you and more about “us.” But I couldn’t help but think that this decision will make my health more important than ever—and not for the reasons you may think. In fact, getting married has opened my eyes to a new source of motivation that can help you unlock your potential.


People say that the key to marriage is simple: “Happy wife, happy life.” And while this is undoubtedly true, my ability to keep my future wife happy depends on my own ability to find health and happiness within myself. I need to take care of myself because someone else is now dependent on me. My health, my actions, and my decisions can’t be selfish if I want to ensure the happiness of my wife, and improve the quality of our life.
This isn’t to say that you can’t be an individual within in marriage. Individuality is a part of life. But carelessness is not. Or at least there should be no room for it when it comes to your health. We oftentimes damage our bodies with bad behaviors because we can. No one feels the consequences except for us—or so we think. That’s what hit me about marriage: My pain is now shared by someone else. The sad thing is, it shouldn’t have taken me so long to figure it out.

I come from a big family. I have loving, incredible parents and three brothers. And over the years, my active way of life has put them through more hardship than I ever imagined. I’ve broken broken bones, torn muscles, had multiple concussions, and even flirted for several years with being significantly overweight. It was stress on my body, and undue pain on my family. While I couldn’t have prevented all of my medical issues, I could have done more about it.

Your health is personal, but its impact is collective. You are the only person who can change your life. But the motivation to live inspired can derive from a greater recognition that you are more important than you think. And by living healthy, you enable yourself to contribute more to your life and others.


One of our most important gifts is our ability to care, help others and create change. And whether you are single or married, come from a big family or small—your ability to succeed at those tasks will always hinge on your health. When you feel better and look better, you perform better. Being healthy creates outward energy, and also builds an internal confidence that elicits positive change.



As I prepare for the next stage in my life, I am beyond thankful that I've met such an incredible and irreplaceable woman. But I'm also more determined than ever to improve my fitness and nutrition. Most people lift weights, run, or eat well so that they can look better. And while those are great goals, they are just scratching the surface of your potential. Once we all realize that taking care of ourselves can help you improve the lives of others, then we'll have the added motivation we need to achieve our goals.


-Adam Bornstein

First Audition and other stuff

A while back I wrote about Ella auditioning for the Nutcracker production of the Lake Ballet Cities, a local ballet company affiliated to the Ballet Conservatory where she takes classes. This past Saturday she had her audition. She must have done very well, as when she was changing, the owner and director of the school stopped by and gave her kuddos. We never spoke to her before.

I, along with a bunch of other very chatty mothers waited in one of the studios with no way to peak inside the studio where the audition was taking place. After 45 minutes, she came out red faced but so happy and excited. She wanted to go home quickly so she can show me the parts (they did the Mice and the Angel parts.) She even had me turned off the radio in the car so she can think and remember the parts exactly.  I loved her enthusiasm and I hope that she makes it. We'll find out soon. Regardless, I'm proud of her for trying out because after all it is all about TRYING and DOING ONE's BEST.

She was happy with the bun I managed to pull. :) Hair gel, prayers, and patience all work miracles, I tell you!

Isn't she a cutie pie?

Can't tell you how happy and fortunate I feel to get to experience all the little and the big emotions that she goes through, at least for now when she allows me. We'll see about the teenage years but for now I will soak it all in! Because I really want to be there for her and with her through it all. Our hearts beat so close to each other, they're so special to each other. It is really hard to express a child's and mother's love for each other but you, mothers out there, know very well what I am talking about.

On to her first show-and-tell now: they were supposed to pick five items or pictures that represented their hobbies or interests and present them in front of their class so they can get to know each other better. She picked one of her drawings, an airplane/rocket, a little pointe/ballet shoe that belongs to her Build-a-bear cat, a book, and a plastic toy deer. Hrishi and I were delighted to listen to her rehearse (she wanted to.) Did a great job!

Let's see, in the random category: I made stuffed bell peppers (a beloved childhood recipe) but instead of ground beef, I used a concotion of Jennie'O ground turkey and wilted spinach. Lean and yummy: they turned delish!!

(This should be on our little food blog instead of here and I'm too lazy to post both places... .)

Hrishi found this while pruning our jasmine in the back. So cute! And I'm thinking to keep it and dress it up a bit for a little Easter decor table piece.

And this is what we do during our lunch breaks, if we don't swim or run. (Sure glad my training buddy is back in the groove with me! He calls me "Lee Jr." hahaha!! My trainer's last name is Lee. Yeah, I wish! :))



(I'm just about to burst out laughing here.)

On the same topic: I just had an "EUREKA" moment last night in the pool when I finally turned my head correctly out and back into the water after getting my breath. It just clicked! After so many failed attempts in the past when I just couldn't get it, it finally CLICKED! I was beyond ecstatic! Now I can swim a lap without stopping and I breathe correctly. I had this humongous smile stretched across my face when I got out of that pool!!! And while laying out there in the evening's soft sun drying up a bit, it struck me: it really boils down to working at it until you think you had enough. Yet you don't give up because deep down inside you have faith that it will work out, you believe that somehow it will happen. And it happened for me last night.  [And since I mentioned the soft sun, I am so grateful to be living here, in TX. This weather is so perfect for me, and for all three of us here, sun/heat lovers. After a couple of weeks for cooling down (perfect 65F temperatures in the mornings and high 80's for the afternoons), it's warming up again (up to 100F) and makes me smile because I like it warm, real warm and sunny.]

I love one of my wise hubby's sayings that goes like this: "Three steps to achieve anything you want: set goal, get knowledge, and practice."
And finally the link to an interview my trainer gave after he won a major Physique competition a month or so ago. Impressive and inspiring.

Skydive: CHECK!

It's really hard to put words to the whirpool of emotions we've gone through this weekend in anticipation of and during the actual dive. It will suffice to say that he LOVED every minute of it, was cool as a cucumber, and wants to do it again. (Oh my gosh?!!!!!) We, Ella and I were overly excited for him but also scared  of course. I had a tension headache (never get those any more) the whole day but I'm very proud of his crazy courage and the way he seized this amazingly unique experience. Because of how he handled this first flight, they gave him a pass/certification for the next tandem level where you can pull the shute yourself. That only means that he's going back to do it again (Oh my gosh??!!!!) So I just have to brace myself and with mixed feelings continue to support this crazy brave, awesome man I married!

"Before" and "After" montaj! :)

The lady who took the pictures and video while they were diving was pretty cool. They kept talking and laughing the whole time. It really kills the nerves, I think. She did a great job with the aerial pictures. His tandem instructor was amazing! Very nice guy. Really happy that he had such a great experience!

This is my favorite because I think it required the most amount of guts and/nuttiness to JUMP:

And then the ACTUAL JUMP:

Ella kept telling him how proud she was of him, how well he did and .... hang on to your chairs now: that SHE WANTS TO DO IT TOO! Last night she was practising the free fall body position on the floor, just like she saw them do in training. And they made a date: when she turns 18 (that's the age you can start jumping at) she will jump with dady.  I am really hoping that she will walk out of it eventually! :)

(One of our huddles while Hrishi was getting ready!)

This and that

This little sweetheart loves fancy glasses. She picked this one up at Ikea a little while ago and she wants to drink almost anything out of it.

Cheers!

And the backyard sidewalk/alley is almost done! Looks gorgeous, I think.

AND..... Hrishi will be skydiving this weekend!!! Oh my gosh, I'm so scared for him! It'll be tandem, in other words there will be someone, a professional sky diver diving with them and opening the parachutte. He's going to be doing this with three of our other friends. Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!! Exciting but still scary to me :) He's been talking about doing this for a while but now that's actually going to happen, makes me scared! However, I am very proud of him! :)

Some more of Ella's art now. She loves to draw and doodle. She'll do it while riding in the car, at the breakfast table, any whichever way or place she can.  I love the details in each of the pictures. She is talented (I think) and can't wait to take some art/drawing lessons. I don't know when that'll be but apparently there is a program at school, Young Rembrandts or something like that, for first graders and up.

Whimsical!

(She was proud of the roses she drew in the left-hand side picture above.)

(There is a little bird nest with chicks waiting for their momma birdie who is flying toward the nest. And it's obviously raining and her character has an umbrella :))

(I think I know who'll be designing my Christmas cards this year! :))